The Bitch is Back
by Kendra Luehr
Summary: A resurrection takes place. With Marina returned to the land of the living, things aren't suddenly all sunshine and butterflies. (A drabble of Julia and Marina making a brief truce.)


A/N: This is a drabble based on a snippet featured in one of the official S2 trailers. I'm still really disappointed, because Marina was honestly my favorite character (Kacey Rohl biases aside), so this is me coping in the best way I know how. I don't know why writers always HAVE to kill off a character when the actress needs to leave (seriously, it's happened on nearly ALL the shows I watch), so this is me giving a better alternative.

"The Bitch is Back"

A great, gusting breath caught in Marina's lungs and she sprung upward, dizzy as the blood began to rush toward her extremities. With her vision blurred and out of focus, she remained upright until Julia's tearful, concerned face came into view.

"Lie back down," she pleaded. "You're going to need some time."

"I've already had plenty, if this is the spell I think it is," Marina muttered. Her voice was hoarse from misuse. Nevertheless, she grudgingly sank back down against the floorboards, her skin feeling nettled and numb as she blinked up at the ceiling. Funny. That had been the last thing she'd seen before she died.

"Can I get you anything? Some water, maybe? A blanket, or-?"

"Food," Marina choked out. "And lots of it."

* * *

"You're awful hungry…"

"Of course I am," Marina snapped, not lifting her eyes as she continued shoveling spaghetti into her mouth. "I've been dead for over 15 hours, Julia, and my body is feeling it. And by the way? Some people come back craving human flesh, so thanks for not fucking up the spell."

"I've done this before," Julia coolly reminded her. "With you, in fact."

Marina didn't respond, her fingers now tearing into a dinner roll.

"That's your second box of takeout, you know."

"Gee thanks, Einstein, but I promise I can still count."

"You know, you would think you'd be a little more grateful…"

Marina finally stopped eating. "For what?" she seethed. "For you tricking me? I wouldn't have helped if I'd known you were going to cross me! Hell, I would've just enchanted myself and gotten the hell out of here!"

"Then why didn't you?" Julia folded her arms, overcome with guilt and agitation. "It was not my intention for you to be left alone with Reynard. The Beast just…he lied to me."

Marina's lips curled into a sneer. "Oh, so you figured that one out, did you? Well done. Your first mistake was blindly following someone you're in a very tentative agreement with."

"Was," Julia softly corrected. "He's dead."

Marina's mouth pursed. "So in other words, I died for nothing? Fan-fucking-tastic. You needed the Beast to kill Reynard, and yet you got us both killed. Wow. You're one hell of a winner, aren't you?"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?! We may have never gotten along, but I didn't want you dead!"

"Didn't you?" Marina's gaze grew icy. "I ridiculed your little plan… I said I hadn't been raped, and that I had no skin in this." Lips rolling inward, she lowered her eyes and exhaled. "I guess I officially stand corrected."

Julia flinched. "Jesus, Marina…"

"Well, what did you expect? The prick does it to most of his victims, doesn't he?"

With tears stinging at her eyes, Julia slowly sank down alongside Marina and touched her arm. "I am so sorry for what you've lost – I'm sorry for everything, okay? I'll admit that a big part of why I brought you back was guilt, but I also want you to live and have the life you were meant to have. Reynard thinks you're dead, so you'll be safe."

"Not if he's still alive," Marina crisply said. "I may be able to enchant myself with an anti-detection, or even a new appearance spell, but those are exhausting to uphold for over 10 hours. And I need to sleep sometime, so until he's gone, I won't be able to mark a niche for myself in another location."

"I'll send word to you when he's dead," Julia promised.

"Not good enough. Clearly, when you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

Julia huffed. "Gee, I've really missed you."

Finally, Marina flashed a genuine smile.


End file.
